This just in via an iniBuilds email - next up in their Premier Aircraft line is a Spartan 7W Executive.
Release is targeted for January/February 2025.
See below and in replies for screen grabs from the email - as of right now, there’s nothing more on the website, and the “keep updated” button takes you to a general update page, not to anything specific to this project.
Descriptions and screenshots make it seem pretty much consistent with the quality of the T-33, their first Premier Aircraft product. That is, the graphics look good, it seems to be modeled on a particular aircraft, and there will be options for vintage and modern cockpits and cabins.
As to systems and flight modeling, we’ll have to see. The T-33 is pretty decent in those respects but still has some gotchas (for example, it seems to blend systems and performance from two different variants)… though in fairness I haven’t yet flown the latest version.
Like the T-33, it will be available for both MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024.
I never caught up with the HGC Spartan, so I have no standard of comparison. All I’ll say for the moment is that the project seems interesting and worth keeping track of.
After the quality of their T-33, MU-2, and a few others, it’s really a shame as this will put the damper on a better dev ever doing a Spartan. Same old story…
Agree. I’d put the T-33 in the near-miss category - it was close in a lot of respects but with misses and compromises that got in the way. With a little more effort it could have been a classic but there seem to be limits to how far iniBuilds is willing to push the detail work. I flew it for a while but finally retreated back to my Flying Irons and IndiaFoxtEchos and haven’t really missed it. Might give it another chance in MSFS 2024 once I get around to downloading it… the sim, that is, not just the aircraft.
You nailed it, it is not that the quality of inibuilds is bad with these products, they just don’t care enough to make the plane great. These birds are not really very complex but do deserve some tweaks and details and those are never ever coming from inibuilds they just move to their next project.
On the other side JustFlight will keep improving and enhancing the products even a long time after release.
I’ll take what I can get. If another dev wants to do a BETTER Spartan, they still can. Until then, this looks to be a step up from the retired HGC addon, so I’m happy. Their prices tend to be fairly low (especially compared to Just Flight) as well.
I really wish someone would do this plane justice. No disrespect to iniBuilds, I realize that they have different aims for different products, but this just doesn’t sound or appear to be shaping up to be what fans of this aircraft want. I hope I’m proven wrong but I predict I’ll be passing on this.
ini typically goes after complicated airliners, and this is a pretty simple vintage GA aircraft. I don’t own any ini products that aren’t included with the sims by default, so I have no idea about the quality of their paid addons… but wouldn’t it be easier to make a simpler aircraft?
Yes and no regarding simple aircraft vs airliners. There is still a lot a developer can get wrong with a ‘simple’ plane. Especially one with a radial engine like the Spartan. The R-985 was a very reliable engine but needs to be handled with care and can take a bit of coaxing to get started. And with everything being analogue, the systems have a bit more… ‘character’ shall we say. A2A and Black Square do a really good job of capturing all of the nuance of a ‘simple’ plane and the less sterile interaction between pilot and plane that characterize planes like this. Modern airliners are very complex on the back end and are marvels of engineering and automation. However, it’s just as hard to capture the the inconsistent nature of pure mechanical systems with ‘1s and 0s’ so to speak.
Yeah that’s fair. I honestly don’t mind a simple startup sequence for a crotchety old radial engine, but who doesn’t love a bit of drama during startup and having to dance around the cockpit flicking switches and throwing levers.
Absolutely! That’s why I especially love when developers build all that in as an option. If you want to get the full experience, you can turn it all off if you just want to jump in and go flying. I love the crotchety old piston engines and managing them through out a flight but I can totally appreciate that some people don’t. And I can understand that not every developer wants to put that much extra work in since it’s exponentially more work than a default level plane. Just please at least get things like oil pressures and temps right. Too many planes come out and a glaringly obvious thing like the oil pressure is in the red no matter what when the engine is running. I wish they would at least get that right.
Happy holidays!
Thats the problem, with addons with wear modeling and things like fowled plugs. Some engines fowl really quickly if you dont lean on the ground on a hot day and others never do. They can even be the same model engine. The small pistons we use in GA are basically hand built so each one is a little different. Personally I turn off engine damage and wear because in my 20+ years as a professional pilot Ive seen engines run at redline make it to TBO and beyond and engine that have been babied come apart at 300 hours catastrophically.
Man I’d be so happy if A2A did a radial with the level of engine simulation we’ve got in the Comanche.
Just like you say, I get why everyone wouldn’t like to deal with it, but my absolute dream is a radial that really, really feels, sounds, and is fragile and finicky like a real old radial. Personally the Spartan wouldn’t be my priority for the treatment, Beaver or Otter would be my top picks, but don’t even care any old school radial with really deep simulation like that would make me so happy.
Favorite cars I’ve owned have been 80s Land Rovers and Alfa Romeos. I like finicky things that sound pretty. (Most people don’t really think of old Land Rovers for sounding awesome, most people also haven’t heard what the Rover V8 sounds like without a muffler https://youtu.be/8AP4cAj7i6Y?si=ZDOTCBKSu0egG1r2)
Yup, that and to a slightly lesser extent the PMDG DC6 are the only two I can think of with even remotely accurate radial engine management. There’s some with cool noises and shake effects, fewer that you can hurt if you’re being really abusive(like I have the FI F6F. Yeah ok it has more intensive than default engine damage but the only times i’ve broken it were deliberate and I was being very extreme with it. Otherwise, neat plane.), but those are the only two that I know of at least where you’ll actually hurt them if you just aren’t managing them properly, even if you’re using them in a pretty conservative and reasonable manner if you see what I’m saying.
Just take a sec and imagine the supercharged Wasp in the DHC Otter with the level of engine simulation, plus visualization, we have in the Comanche
The ATSimulations An-2 was pretty good too. I actually haven’t flown in in MSFS even though I buy it. I flew it A LOT back in P3D/FSX and it was a very satisfying plane to operate.
So there have been a few that have gotten pretty close with radial engines. I’d be happy if we got that level for the Spartan honestly. It’s an airplane I’ve loved since I first learned of its existence many years ago. Got to see one at Oshkosh one year too. I’ve always found it to be a rather bewitching plane. Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst as they say.
The Big Radials Goose’s engines can fail in a spectacular fireball. You don’t have to go crazy in starting them, but the failures make it a step above the norm.
IniBuilds has never really struck me as one that’d really go nerd out on a piston engine simulation, although also to be fair they’re so much bigger than a lot of the devs who knows maybe they do have an internal combustion nerd hiding around somewhere
